Mercury Prize Award 2013 Nominees // Foals - Holy Fire

As one of NME's most hyped bands of the 21st century, Foals' release of Holy Fire was always going to a prolific release of 2013. The third album sees a lot more mature  Foals, still with their quirky twist and indie greatness. It's great to see them progress as a band, seeing them become musically more mature but not loosing their edge.

Holy Fire starts with Prelude, an introduction to what we are about to encounter. Enticing, exciting, emphatic. The perfect build up for the rest of the album. Track 2, Inhaler. Suited for a sweaty gig full of drunk students. They know how to treat their crowd, with the ringing guitars, angelic vocals and heavy kick into the chorus. Next up, My number. One of the anthems of the summer. Prefect for main stages and a warm summers day. Yannis and co. manage to create a calm, collective indie floor filler, that is sure to be one of the best songs of 2013. Track 4, Bad Habbit is full of mesmerizing guitar solos. The perfect amount of reverb added to charm its listeners into a state of perfect harmony. Everytime is track 5. A bit more upbeat, with an in your face with a heavily distorted rhythm guitar, calmed down by soothing signature harmonies. The perfect mixture or madness and tranquility. Late night, track 6, is my favourite track of the album. It has the capabilities to become another Foals staple, like Blue Blood and Spanish Sahara. Keeps you swaying, sends chills down your spine, sends you into a mesmeric state. Ultimately a stunning track. Out of the woods could be related to a slowed down version of Cassius, with the powerful bassline and quirky guitar line. Once again another hypnotizing track. It could be said as very similar to past tracks on the album, but it never seems to get boring for me. In track 8, Milk & Black Spiders, I can hear a similarity towards one of my favourite bands, The Maccabees, but I guess they have always been similar in a way. Perfect mix of harmonic guitars, Simple use of constant symbols and yannis' captivating vocals help to create another cracking track. Providence, goes back to the rawness of the Antidotes days. Makes you never want the song to end. With the added synth giving it that new twist. Energetic drum fills in the build up to a full scale brawl of an ending. Closely second of my favourite tracks on Holy Fire. Track 10, Stepson, again another track that has the characteristics of a Spanish Sahara. Here the lyrics are the star of the song, they stand out in all their poetic glory. You can imaging being involved in every word that Yannis mutters. The final track, Moon, has a lullaby feel. With the glockenspiel twist and sustained guitar, it's a track you could easily fall asleep to.

Another stunning album, not a single disappointing track. If you're into listening to hypnotic music then look no further than Holy Fire. They have managed to modernise their style of music, mould it into a grown-up album but at the same time kept it youthful. They have led the way alongside other top class bands over the last 5 or so years, becoming one of the most exciting indie bands that you can possibly see.

A mixture of Holy Fire and the Mercury Prize Award could be Foals' route to stardom, not that they aren't already there. Personally I think they deserve it, and it's about time they got the recognition they deserve, as one of the best indie bands in Britain.